Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Mawer Investment Management Ltd.

Key Points

• Mawer Investment Management Ltd. reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 8.0%, selling 65,741 shares, which now accounts for about 1.1% of its investment portfolio.
• Accenture recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48, reflecting an annualized rate of $5.92 and a dividend yield of 2.14%.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on Accenture, with price targets ranging from $240.00 to $370.00, and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 8.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 758,804 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 65,741 shares during the quarter. Accenture makes up approximately 1.1% of Mawer Investment Management Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned 0.12% of Accenture worth $236,777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Accenture by 30,256.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,421,519 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,067,651,000 after buying an additional 3,410,248 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 22.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,175,518 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,283,225,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260,740 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,295,748 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $4,325,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770,024 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 2,782.1% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,445,281 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $450,985,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,582,344 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $2,667,393,000 after purchasing an additional 732,769 shares during the last quarter. 75.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of ACN traded down $12.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $254.64. The stock had a trading volume of 3,672,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,384,865. The company has a market cap of $159.49 billion, a PE ratio of 20.27, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.29. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $299.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $320.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a fifty-two week low of $254.89 and a fifty-two week high of $398.35.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.32 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 11.61%. The business's revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.13 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $1.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Accenture's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Accenture from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Accenture from $355.00 to $325.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 23rd. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up previously from $390.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Accenture from $364.00 to $355.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $360.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Angela Beatty sold 203 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total value of $57,315.02. Following the sale, the insider owned 5,249 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,482,002.66. This trade represents a 3.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,454 shares of company stock worth $1,646,780. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.